Some surprises in here: I thought I was ahead of the curve, having owned a car from 1988 with a trip computer (Saab 9000 Turbo). But, Cadillac did it first in 1979: I'd like to know more about the non-satellite navigation system offered in the '82 Accord, but the article that Wikipedia links to is dead, even on archive.org. I actually remember when Oldsmobile offered a HUD in 1988. I wasn't into cars yet, but it was a big deal at the time. It was another 29 years before I'd own a car with a HUD. Actual satellite navigation in a 1990 Mazda? Wow. Backup camera on a 1991 Toyota? I didn't have this until my '14 Civic LX; even my loaded-sans-automatic '12 Accord coupe didn't have it, nor did my '03 BMW 540.
So much in that story... They just didn't stop in time, were doing over 100mph at the end of the runway, and went airborne over/into a ravine... before going airborne again and over/through a second ravine, end over end. They were in their 70's. Probably just plain not used to the raw speed, and looked up just before they realized they had to stop, and couldn't in time.
I work in the collision industry and it's crazy the repair process for cars these days due to the material they're made of. We had a 2016 Chevy SS in the shop that a tree branch fell on. It dented the Inner roof rail and because of the material, it wasn't repairable. You had to replace it. So off came the roof and the entire uniside. This dent Became this repair
In case anybody was wondering, some 2004 Chevy Silverado fan clutches wear out at about 340,000 miles. I was coming home Sunday afternoon after my truck had been sitting in the hot sun for about 2 hours. About 5 minutes after I had been driving, I notice my A/C seemed to be really struggling, I look down at the temp gage - uh oh. Right then, DING DING DING "Engine Overheated." I immediately pulled over, and pop the hood. The return hose from the radiator had slightly disengaged from the neck outport and was spewing coolant everywhere. I called one of my buddies, who does a lot of work on cars and said, "I don't want to do anything dumb, but it looks like the hose clamp just worked loose." Anyway, I was bout 5 minutes from his house, so he drives over and looks at it. He said that for it to work loose would be odd, and that I might have had a blockage or a bad thermostat, and that it just blew the hose there if it was the weak point. I reattach the hose, and put almost 12 quarts of coolant in. Capacity is 15, so, yeah, it had mostly leaked all the way out. He says if it's a blockage it's going to heat up pretty quick. I revved the engine and let it run for a few minutes. No apparent leakage, and no major overheating, though the needle moved up to about 210 instead of the 197 butter zone. He says turn it off, and let me grab the fan blade, then restart it. I do, and he says your fan clutch is bad. Pretty cool trick, but it's not one I would try. If you hold it still, meaning it can't overcome you holding it with just your hand, the clutch is bad, if not, it's probably something else (and now you're missing a finger.) Anyway, I am posting all this in case it's useful for anyone else. Also, borrow or buy the fan clutch tool if you ever need to do it. It was about a 20 minute job, and I can't imagine the struggle without that tool. My truck sounds like a jet turbine when I go up my driveway now.
Noooo shit! The only "doh!" moment I've had with cooling was when my truck was overheating while towing my race car, and I tried everything I could think of... even flushing the rad at the track, coolant change, tested the thermostat, etc. Eventually gave in and took it to a local shop (I was towing back from the event on the hottest day of the year, in the mountains), and begged/pleaded for help. They helped, and when I came back from grabbing some food, they pointed to a huge pile of mud on the shop floor, and laughed. Yep... I paid the shop $250 to hose the dirt off of the outside of the rad. It was so packed in there that there was no airflow, so no cooling. Lesson learned.
Yeah, never do what your buddy did, ever. He must not like his fingers. If you don't have a fan clutch wrench you can leave the belt on and use a wide cold chisel and a hammer to break the clutch loose.
What a pertinent topic; I just changed the fan clutch on a GMC C5500 today. I used an air chisel to get it off, sort of how Flat Rate said (NOTE: I generally only use the air-chisel if I'm not going to reuse the fan clutch, because it tends to fuck up the base. Also, be careful not to let the chisel chew into the threads or the pulley.) If you don't have an air chisel, then I'd recommend buying or renting a fan clutch removal tool from an auto parts store. Also, I'm going to second/third/whatever what everyone else said and tell you that your friend's advice regarding the checking of the fan clutch is a BAD idea. What I do is use a piece of rubber hose; try sticking it in the blades while the engine is running. If you can stop the fan, the clutch is no good.
Pshaw... lightweight. This is the only way to test the fan: That was one of the first David Letterman skits I remember seeing as a kid... that, and throwing a pinata full of baked beans off of a 13 story building. I was hooked from that point onward.
Don't have to worry about ME doing that. The funny thing is, he told me he learned it from a mechanic. I like Dixie's rubber hose idea much better.
Twin turbo, flat six, rear wheel drive, rear engine is a fucking magical combination if you learn how to drive it well.
Maybe a little credit to the driver? I hate the headline of that article. Like the ones that say "SUV plows into school bus at traffic light" or whatever. No, it was the driver who did that. The car (or SUV) didn't drive itself. No, the driver couldn't have broken the record in a Prius, but if the Porsche had me behind the wheel on that course, the record wouldn't have been broken either. I am not familiar with the display and set up. That level bubble (?) to the right of the tach is a pretty cool indicator. Is that a standard testing thing that's used?
Oh, absofuckinglutely the driver is a huge part of it... but at that level it’s more about the car than driver. Look to Alonso or Vettel in F1 for an example.